Envelope



Spt. 27, 1938. c. RywHlPPLE ENVELOPE Filed Oct. 28, 1937 J vBY ATT RNE .t

Patented Sept. 27, 1938 UNITED STATES ENVELOPE charles n. Whipple, Pittsfield, assignor' so' Eaton Paper Corporation, Pittsileld, Mass., a

corporation oi' Massachusetts v Application October 28, 1937, Serial-No. `1ll1,449 4 claims. (01. 229-80) My present invention relates to envelopes and the like and more particularly to envelopes of the self-sealing or non-moistening type and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

5 It has been heretofore proposed to use las the sealing means for envelopes and the like coatings f of rubber solution, latex, or other adhesive which,

in their dried state, have the property of strongly adhering or sticking to one another without first being moistened, but which do not stick to un coated parts of envelopes. Where, however. such adhesive coatings are applied to complementa] parts of the envelope, difliculty has been encountered in preventing accidental sticking or sealing l5 of the envelopes prior to the intentional sealing thereof, and accordingly various means have been proposed for overcoming this objection.- Among the proposals have been (a) the use of a protective strip between the adhesive coatings on the flap and on the rear wall of the envelope; (b)

the provision of a separate line of fold for the ap for normally holding the adhesive surfaces out of contact; and (c)packaging or stacking the envelopes with the flaps in open relation.

All of the foregoing proposals are open to one or more objections, theprincipal one being that unless exceptional care is exercised in the handling of/the envelopes, accidental sealing thereof will take place. According to my present invention I overcome the objections inherent to envelopes of the class described and provide an envelope wherein ornamental embossing of a part thereof is made to serve the additional function of providing the means for normally preventing accidental sealing of the envelope. Furthermore, my invention may be embodied in envelopes of standard shapes and can` be produced on conventional envelopemaking machinerywith but little modication 40 thereto, and requires no modification in the practices 'followed in handling and packaging the conventional gummedapenvelopes now in universal use. L. f`

The invention will be better understood from the detailed description which follows when read in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein I have shown two preferred, embodiments, in which y Figure 1 is a rear view of an envelope with the ap in open position embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the envelope shown in Fig. 1 with the iiap folded down, or in the condition for normal packaging and use.

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the plane of the line3-3ofFi8.2;

Fig. 4 is a section taken along the plane of the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

' Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a modied form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a rear view of the envelope shown in 5 Fig. 5 with the ap in sealed relation;

Figs. 7 .and 8 are sections taken respectively along the lines 'I-'l and 8 8 of Fig. 6.

Referringrst to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, I-haveshown the invention as applied to a per- 1o sonal correspondence form of envelope consisting of a front wall I0, a rear wall composed of y flaps II, I2 and I3, providing, with the front wall,

a pocket, and a closure ap I4 having'fa line of fold I5 along which-theap may be folded so as l5 to bring it into overlying relation to the rear wall and in closing relation to the pocket. For'sealing the envelope complemental areas on the inner 'face of the flap I4 and on the outer face of the ap I2 of the rear wall are coated with an adhe- 20 sive of the type which will adhere to itself upon the application of pressure alone but will not adhere to uncoated parts.

In order to prevent accidental sticking and sealing of the complementally coated areas on the 25 apand on the rear'wall of the envelope, I provide, on the outer surface of the rear wall ap l2,

a band-like area I6 of adhesive of the type specied, and treatv the areas on the flap which normally'overlies the area I 6,' to provide areas 30 disposed in different planes and then apply adhesive I 'I to the .inner faces of areas I8 which are removed from the normal plane of contact between the ap and the rear wall. In Figs. 1 to 4 I have shown the areas which are removed from 35 the normal plane o f the ap as embossed areas in the form of squares; it will be apparent, however, that the embossing or displacement of the portions of the flap out of their normal plane may be of any desired form or configuration. It is 40 essential however, that the degree towhich the areas are displaced be greater than the thickness of adhesive applied thereto. It will thus be seen that when the flap I4 is in its normal position as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the adhesive coated 45 areas I1 of the flap are spaced from the coated area I6 on the rear wall due to the engagement of the normal uncoated areas ofthe ap with said l coated area. I6. To seal th'e envelope it is merely necessary, with the envelope parts in the relation- 50 ship show-n, to apply pressure to the embossed areas I8 by any suitable means, for example, by rubbing the linger or thumb nail thereover. so as to bring the coated partsA I6 and I'I into contact, whereupo'n, because of their great adhesion. 65

seal the envelope.

they will provide an effective seal for the envelope.

In Figs. 5 to 8 I have shown a slight modication of the invention in that the embossed square areas 2G on the flap 2i are directed toward the inner face of the Hap and the adhesive 22 is applied to the areas between the embossed portions and are normally held out of contact with a coated area 23 on the rear wall of the envelope by contact of said embossed areas 25 with the said coated area 23. With this modication it will be apparent that sealing may be accomplished in precisely the same manner as above described, namely by merely applying pressure with the aid of the finger or thumb nail over the surfaces between the embossed areas so as to bring the adhesive 22 into contact with the adhesive 23, as shown in Fig. 8, to effectively From the foregoing detailed description, it will bev apparent that I have provided an envelope of the self-sealing type which, in addition to overcoming the deficiencies in articles of this type, as set forth in the opening statement of this specification, also provides an ornamental characteristic to the envelope which serves the dual function of normally maintaining the ap out of sealing "contact and of providing an ornamental character to the envelope when either sealed or unsealed.

This invention, it will be appreciated, is not limited to any particular form of ornamentation nor to providing such ornamentation only on the flap since it will be apparent that the embossing may be provided either on the flap or on the rear wall or on both without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. An envelope or the like comprising a pocket and a flap for closing the pocket which normally overlies a part of the. rear wall of the` envelope, adjacent faces on the flap and on the rear wall of the envelope having complemental Y areas thereof coated' with an adhesive of the type which will adhere to itself upon' the application of pressure alone but will not adhere to uncoated parts, the adhesive coating on at least one of said parts having uncoated areas adjacent the coated areas and disposed out of the normal plane of the coated areas for normally maintaining the coated areas on) the two parts in spaced relation, and the'coated areas on the respective parts being adapted to be brought into adhering relation by the application of pressure to the overlying coated areas.

2. An envelope of the like comprising a pocket and a flap for closing the pocket which normally overlies a part of the rear wall of the envelope, adjacent faces on the flap and on the rear wall of the envelope having complemental areas thereof coated with an adhesive of the type which will adhere to itself upon the application of pressure alone but which will not adhere to unj coated parts, one of the parts coated with ad-4 hesive being embossed to provide areas disposed 3. An envelope or the like comprising a pocket and a ilap for closing the pocket which normally overlies a part of the rear wall of the envelope, the inner face on the ap and the outer face on the rear wall having complemental areas thereof coated with an adhesive of the type which will adhere to itself upon the application of pressure alone but Will not adhere to uncoated parts, the adhesive coating on one of said parts being a continuous area and the complemental area on the other part having both adhesive coated and uncoated areas, with the uncoated areas disposed out of the plane of the coated areas and serving to normally contact the continuous area 'on the other part and prevent normal contact here to uncoated parts, the adhesive coating on the outer face of the rear wall being a continuous area and the complemental area on the flap being'embossed to provide areas disposed in different planes with the adhesive applied only to areas in the plane removed from the normal plane of contact between the flap and the rear wall whereby the uncoated areas of the ap c omplemental to the continuous coated area on the rear wall will serve to prevent normal contact between the complemental coated areas on the iiap and on the rear wall of the envelope.

CHARLES R. WHIPPLE. 

